The Top Ten Things I’ve Learned After Almost Two Years in Prison

Almost two years down, three years, and eight months to go.

Damian Delune
10 min readAug 13, 2023
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Last year around this time I wrote a piece about being in prison for almost a year and explained the top five things I’d learned so far. This year, I figured I should have learned at least five more things beyond those initial items and could expand on the original ones.

The Top Ten Things I’ve Learned After Almost Two Years in Prison

10. Forehead kisses are the best, in case you weren’t aware — This is still probably the biggest thing I miss being able to do, next to giving my wife a hug. I’ve not given or gotten a hug since October 6, 2021. That was the last time I saw my wife in person, actually. I’m housed 6 hours one way from home so the only connection we have beyond telephone calls and now messaging on the tablet, are our weekly video visits.

When I first got to this camp, we were on COVID precautions so our visits were monthly, so I’m thankful we now get weekly video visits.

9. Food is a privilege, not a right — Yes, you read that correctly. No, I’m not exaggerating. The longer I’m here, the more this becomes clear to me. Since working in the laundry, I’ve also learned where you work…

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Damian Delune

Incarcerated writer sharing real stories about life on the inside, through my wife, Demeter Delune (editor, publisher, promoter, responder)